China's value-added industrial output expanded 5.7 percent year on year in July, official data showed on Friday.

The growth slowed from a 6.8 percent rise in June, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

For the first seven months of the year, industrial output increased by 6.3 percent compared to a year ago. The industrial output data is used to measure the activity of large enterprises, each with an annual main business turnover of at least 20 million yuan.

A breakdown of the data showed that the manufacturing sector's value-added output increased by 6.2 percent year on year in July, while that of mining grew by 5 percent. The value-added output of the electricity, heat, gas, water production and supply sector rose by 3.3 percent.

The production of new energy vehicles, integrated circuits, and industrial robots surged 32.9, 10.4 and 32.9 percent, respectively, during the period.

Friday's data also showed that the country's retail sales of consumer goods, a significant indicator of the country's consumption strength, expanded 4.8 percent year on year in the first seven months, while fixed-asset investment rose 1.6 percent.

The decline in the prices of residential homes in China's 70 large and medium-sized cities continued to narrow.

In the four first-tier cities, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, new home prices dropped 1.1 percent from a year earlier in July, with the pace of decline narrowing by 0.3 percentage points from June, NBS data showed.

Shanghai, the country's economic hub, recorded a 6.1 percent year-on-year increase in new home prices last month.

Second and third-tier cities saw new home prices fall by 2.8 percent and 4.2 percent year on year in July, with the declines narrowing by 0.2 and 0.4 percentage points, respectively.

The surveyed urban unemployment rate on average in China stood at 5.2 percent in July.

Data released this month by the NBS showed that the producer price index fell 3.6 percent year-on-year in July, matching the near two-year low recorded in June.

Beijing has recently stepped up policy measures and made pledges to prop up domestic consumption and curb excessive price competition, as authorities strive to lift economic growth towards the government's 2025 target of around 5 percent. (Xinhua/Reuters)
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Last updated: 2025-08-15 HKT 12:10